Matt1

February 24, 2013 - 5 hours in - 2 minutes - WBTB, SSILD, MILD, DS

Woke via alarm after 3.5 hours and did about 6 SSILD cycles of gradually increasing length. Afterward I fell asleep to a mantra of "1, I'm dreaming, 2, I'm dreaming, 3..." while trying to visualize each digit.

I am in the other bedroom reading a glossary in a book on the nightstand and three terms each starting with "Dream," one of them being "Dream within a dream," are set apart in the list, with descriptions after each one. 'This kind of thing [of randomly reading about dreams] happens to me a lot in dreams,' I thought to myself. Still, possibly because of the mundane setting, and also because I could remember a lot of what I did recently (whether this actually occurred in the dream I don't know), I was certain it was reality. Still, I thought I would check, just because. I plug my nose and inhale successfully.

What a surprise! I thought to myself, "If this is a dream, anything could be a dream!" But now I am fully lucid and I rub my hands to stabilize. J. is here and I plug my nose and inhale and ask J. what she thinks, but she doesn't react much. I say to her, "We're in a dream right now!" She makes a skeptical yet confused face and says, "Okay."

Next I try the finger through palm reality check. I push the first two fingers on my right hand through my left palm, causing the skin to stretch like rubber and making quite an indentation through the other side. I push harder and feel it push through, but look and see the fingers are now only between the other hand's fingers, not through the palm. I try twice more and get the same results. One last time, I push lower down and with a better angle, and it keeps stretching, but for some reason I don't push through all the way. I guess even in a dream I don't feel like damaging my hand.

She wants to hug me goodbye (like reality) and I unthinkingly comply. As I lean over to do so, I wake up instantly.